Saturday, August 04, 2012

Plate by Plate 2012 (Los Angeles, CA)

On Saturday, August 4th, Project by Project hosted its 10th Annual Tasting Benefit, Plate by Plate, at the Vibiana cathedral and event space in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles. For the uninitiated, PbP is a nationwide not-for-profit organization focused on issues relating to the Asian-American community, and as always, the event showcased the culinary chops of some of the City's most popular and up-and-coming eateries, all washed down by a selection of liquor, wine, beer, sake, and even non-alcoholic beverages from a wide array of purveyors.

The requisite group photo of all the participants.

Accompanied by The Langham's Director of Communications Elsa Schelin, Chef David Féau of The Royce presented an attractive plate of Marinated Cantaloupe, Kampachi, Toasted Ginger.

The Seoul Sausage team--Ted Kim, Chris Oh, Yong Kim--served up their Flaming Fried Balls: Deep Fried Spicy Pork Seoul Sausage Cheesy Kimchi Fried Rice Balls topped with Da "DMA" Sauce (Kimchi Sriracha Garlic Jalapeño Aioli). The trio recently competed on Season 3 of the Food Network's Great Food Truck Race, which they may or may not have won, and which may or may not have anything to do with their upcoming brick & mortar store in Little Osaka.

Neal Fraser and Amy Knoll Fraser's Fritzi Dog will be launching soon, but the even bigger news is that Grace's replacement (which will not be named Grace) will finally be getting off the ground, taking over the space currently occupied by the Vibiana's rectory building. Plans call for both indoor and outdoor dining rooms, a bar, a separate bar/lounge on the second floor, and a number of private dining rooms.

Right next door to Charlie Palmer was Broadway, the new-ish restaurant by CP's former head chef Amar Santana. His sticks of Crisp Pork Belly, Miso-Caramel Togarashi, set in a bed of grass, may have been the evening's most interesting presentation of food.

Fluff Ice co-founder Matthew Hui was on deck with four varieties of his shaved ice: Honeydew, Original, Mango, and Thai Tea, all served with a bevy of accompaniments.

Surprisingly, 9021Pho's Kimmy Tang wasn't slanging pho, but rather her version of a Chicken Salad.

Laurent Quenioux was defiant in his serving of foie gras at the event. It came as a "Hure" of Foie Gras, Salmon Roe, Smoked Eel, Lobster Gelee, Vietnamese Shiso as well as in "sashimi" form. He also featured bread from newcomer bakery B1 Breadshop, with dozens of pieces available for patrons to take home.

With her cooking demo done, Chef Nyesha Arrington came over to sample some of Laurent's wares.

XT Patisserie co-owner Tuan Trinh had a colorful spread of macarons for us to try.

The charcuterie program over at Wood & Vine is arguably the best in the City, and we were happy to have Chef Gavin Mills present a trio of his House-Made Charcuterie at the event.

Stepping back outside now, I ran into former Project by Project team member Yulree Chun, who was here representing Gogobot, a new socially-focused travel site.

The St. Germain-sponsored cocktail challenge got underway, pitting Chris Hewes, Gia St. George, and Devon Espinosa against each other to see who would prevail with the top cocktail incorporating the elderflower liqueur. When all was said and done, it was Library Bar's Chris Hewes who would reign supreme with his whimsically-named "Gettin' Figgy With It."

Somehow, during my first sweep through the garden area, I'd managed to miss Rustic Canyon. The restaurant offered a dish of Sweet Corn and Rosemary Fritter with Honey Crème Fraiche, presented by new head chef Jeremy Strubel.

Co-Manager of Restaurant Relations Joy Bitonio just happens to be the girlfriend of Chef Jeremy.

More PbP'ers: Manager of Design Risa Yanai, Director of Marketing Rosanna Huang, Co-Manager of Team and Leadership Development Irene Choi, and Co-Manager of Multimedia Paul Kim.

Yes, that's none other than former MasterChef Season 3 contestant Felix Fang (who works at Katsuya here in LA). It's too bad she got the boot on the last episode; I was really rooting for her to win the whole thing!

8 Comments:

GREAT POST Kevin! Thank you so much! You are a rockstar PbP Restaurant Manager and I'm so happy you are a part of my Events Team. Cheers to you for helping make the 2012 Plate by Plate tasting benefit a huge success. :D

"national volunteer organization of social entrepreneurs that serves Asian American non-profits in need by raising public awareness, volunteerism, and capital."

So specifically excluding every race but their own? Just wondering. Curious what people would say if that Project by Project read like this: "national volunteer organization of social entrepreneurs that serves Caucasian American non-profits in need by raising public awareness, volunteerism, and capital."

As every ethnic group needs help, lets face it. However, I can see certain groups being upset with such a statement.